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G ripping the serving spoon so hard that her hand ached, Celia braced her other hand against the wall as she watched the man who’d just walked in. What the hell was Nick Doyle doing at The Trailhead?

Had he somehow figured out that she was alive?

No. That was impossible. No one besides Anne, Noah and Hiram knew she’d crawled out of that grave. Everyone associated with the Doyle family thought she was rotting in the desert.

So why was Nick talking to Noah? How did he know Celia’s new brother-in-law?

What the hell was she going to do if Nick knew she was alive?

Her heart battered against her chest in a frantic rhythm. Go. Run. Now, while you still can.

She backed away from the door. Here in the kitchen, she couldn’t see Nick, but his presence surrounded her like a black cloud. She swallowed, reminding herself Nick couldn’t see her back here, and she had to make sure that he never would.

The only way to do that was to disappear. Now . She couldn’t wait until he walked into the kitchen. Couldn’t afford to lose herself in his topaz eyes. Those eyes that haunted all her dreams.

She had to run. Leave Helena this afternoon. Throw her meager belongings into Anne’s car and start driving. Get as far away from Helena as she could. Stop only long enough to sleep, then start driving again tomorrow.

Would it be enough? Once Nick told his father she was alive, Bobby Doyle would never stop looking for her. She’d live the rest of her probably short life looking over her shoulder. Jumping at shadows. Flinching at unknown noises. Trying desperately to hide from whoever was chasing her.

And she wouldn’t even know who it was. Fingers was dead, and she didn’t know Bobby’s shooters other than Troy Murray, who’d gone with Fingers to kill her.

Oh, God! She pressed her hands to her stomach. How was she supposed to protect herself when she had no idea who was dangerous? Who’d try to kill her? Everyone she met would be a potential killer.

Backing away from the swinging door, she tore off her apron and snatched Anne’s car keys from the small hook above the desk. Clenching them so hard they’d leave a bruise, she ran for the back door. Fumbled with the lock, but her hands were shaking too hard to tap out the code.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to focus. To slow down. She knew the code. She could do this. Tapped it in again. Wrong number. Every molecule in her body screamed ‘run! Now!’ As her fingers scrabbled at the keyboard, her mind raced. She’d stop at the homeless shelter to get her belongings. Her new birth certificate with the name Caitlin Cooper. Her new driver’s license. New credit cards. Hell, she’d even bring the Helena Public Library card she’d gotten.

Clutching the keys in her hand, fumbling for the back door lock with the other, she almost had the door open when Anne draped an arm around her shoulders.

“Where you going, Cece?” Anne asked quietly.

“Away,” Celia said. “Now! I have to get out of here! Nick Doyle is out there. And once Nick tells his father I’m alive, none of us is safe. I want to be far away from here before he realizes I didn’t die.”

“How do you know Nick will tell Bobby you’re alive?” Anne asked, brushing the hair away from Celia’s face. Tucking it behind her ear, like she’d done when Celia was thirteen years old.

“Why wouldn’t he tell his father?” Celia asked.

“We need to talk to Nick,” Anne said calmly. As if Celia’s life wasn’t crashing on the kitchen floor in front of her. “Find out why he’s here in Helena. What he’s going to do.”

“You think he’d tell us the truth?” Celia asked, swallowing when she heard the high-pitched terror in her voice. “Of course he’s going to report back to Bobby.”

“Let’s find out,” Anne said calmly. She curled an arm around Celia’s shoulders and settled her into the desk chair. Anne sat on the desk, right beside her. “Noah’s going to bring Nick back here so we can talk to him. Get some information from him.”

Celia grabbed Anne’s hands. “This is your wedding day,” she said, her voice thin and high-pitched. “Not ‘interrogate a gangster’ day.”

“I know you didn’t choose this,” Anne said, stroking a hand down Celia’s hair. Just like when they were kids and their mom was drunk and screaming at them. It had always calmed Celia then, and it calmed her now. “But you can always run. Why not hear what Nick has to say before you grab your belongings and my car,” she nodded at the keys still clutched in Celia’s hand. “What’s the risk of doing that?”

Celia drew in a shuddering breath. Blew it out. Did it again, and finally was able to take a deep breath. “As long as you and Noah and Hiram are here, there’s no risk. Nick won’t shoot me when all three of you are watching.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “At least I don’t think so.”

Anne frowned. “You think Nick wants to shoot you?” she asked, her voice incredulous.

“That’s what his father would expect,” Celia said.

Anne stroked a hand down her hair again. “The last time Nick was here, he told Noah that he was walking away from his father. Walking away from the family business. That he wasn’t interested in the life his father lived. The business that his father is running. He wasn’t interested in anything his father had planned for him. So I think you have to listen to him, at least. Find out why he’s here and what he’s planning.”

She curled an arm around Celia’s shoulders. “He’ll be just as shocked to see you as you were to see him,” she said. “He thinks you’re dead. That’s what Fingers and whoever was with him told Bobby Doyle. And as far as they were concerned, you were dead. Fingers shot you in the head and the heart. Hard to get more dead than that.”

Celia’s heart had slowed to merely pounding in her chest when Anne smoothed her hand over Celia’s hair. She drew a deep breath, felt it calm her. “Okay,” she said after a long moment. “I’ll stay. Listen to what Nick has to say. But Noah’s going to question him, right? I don’t have to talk to him myself?”

“Maybe not today,” Anne said. “But eventually, you’re gonna have to talk to him. And he’s gonna have to talk to you.”

Fear shivered through Celia. “Not sure I can do that, Anne.”

“I know you can, Cece.” The stroke of her hand down Celia’s hair calmed her. “I saw you do it when we were kids. When we had to face our drunken mother who was screaming at us. Throwing stuff at us. When we had to scramble away from her when she tried to hit us. You can face anything, Cece, because I’ve seen you face the worst things a kid can face.”

Celia drew in a shaky breath. “Not sure that little kid is still in here, Anne.”

“Of course she is, Cece. You were a tough kid, and you grew into a tough adult. Because you had to. Now you have to face Nick Doyle. And I know you can do it, Cece”

Celia swallowed. “Okay, Annie,” she said, pressing her head into her sister’s hand, needing the comfort. “I’ll listen to him. Then I’ll make up my mind.”

“Good. That’s a good choice, Cece. Like I said, you can always run. But first you need to hear what Nick has to say.”

Celia’s stomach fluttered, and she pressed her fist against it. For a moment, she was afraid she would throw up everything she’d eaten and the glass of Costco wine Hiram had given her.

“You want some seltzer water?” Anne asked.

Celia nodded. That would probably settle her stomach.

“If I go get it for you, will you be here when I get back?” Anne asked, staring at her.

Celia nodded again. “I will.”

“Pinky promise me that?” Anne asked.

Celia stared at her sister again. Finally sighed. Held out her pinky. “Yeah. pinky promise.”

Anne curled her pinky around Celias and both of them tightened their fingers. They stayed that way for a long moment, until Celia drew her finger away. “Satisfied, Annie?” she asked.

Anne tilted her head and studied her. “Are you gonna take off as soon as my back is turned?” she demanded.

“I pinky promised I wouldn’t, didn’t I?” Celia said, staring at her sister. “I’ll wait and see what Nick has to say.” She swallowed hard and grabbed for Anne’s hand. “I don’t want to leave, Annie,” she whispered. “I want to stay here in Helena with you and Noah and Hiram. Make a new life for myself here.”

“Then do that, Cece. Don’t let a scary situation drive you away.”

The door from the kitchen into the restaurant burst open and Nick walked in, followed by Noah. When Noah reached for Nick’s upper arm, Nick spun around to face him.

“I told you to keep your fucking hands off me,” Nick growled. “Do it again and I’ll take you out.”

Noah stared at Nick. “Think you can, tough guy? Then go ahead.”

Nick stared back at him for a long moment. “I thought you wanted to talk , Brewster,” Nick said. “But if you really want to prove what a man you are, go ahead.” He nodded at Anne, who was blocking Nick’s view of Celia. “Not real seemly in front of your girlfriend, though.”

“She’s my wife, Doyle. You interrupted our wedding.”

Nick’s gaze switched to Anne. “I’m really sorry” he said. “I had no idea. I was just looking for a beer.”

Noah jerked his chin toward the other chair in the kitchen. “Sit down and we’ll talk.”

Nick stared at Noah for a long minute. Then, making sure Noah knew it was Nick’s idea and he wasn’t obeying Noah’s order, Nick lowered himself into the chair. Ignoring Noah, Nick finally noticed Celia. He sucked in a breath and reared back, never taking his gaze off her. Celia saw hunger in his gaze, along with confusion. “Did Celia have a twin?” Nick asked her, frowning. “I never got a chance to ask her about herself. About her family.”

“You don’t talk to her, Doyle,” Noah said, his voice hard. Tough. “You let Celia get sent off to die in the desert.”

Celia had never heard that voice from Noah. She swallowed. “That your SEAL voice, Noah?” she asked.

He turned his head to study her. “As a matter of fact, it is. It’s my ‘I’m not taking shit from you and you’re not lying to me, or it won’t go well for you’ voice.” He smiled, but it only made his expression scarier. “You okay with that?”

Celia swallowed hard. Drew in a breath. “I’m not, actually. I think maybe you need to stop being a tough guy so we can all have a normal conversation. Can you do that, Noah?”

“This guy let you be driven away to be killed,” Noah retorted. “You want me to have a pleasant conversation with him? A nice chat ?”

“He wasn’t even in the room when Fingers and Murray took me away,” Celia said. “Okay? I want to know why he disappeared from Bobby’s office. What he’s doing here. What he plans to tell his father.” She drew in a deep breath and narrowed her eyes at Noah. “I don’t need chest-thumping and threats. Are you clear about that?”

Noah’s jaw worked, and it was clear he wasn’t happy. But he sucked in a breath. Blew it out. Finally he nodded. “Your call. I’ll back off. But I want some answers, Celia, and I intend to get them.”

“Then we’re on the same page, Noah, because I want answers, too.” Celia realized her voice sounded far more calm that she really was. She was shaking inside, and desperately wanted to tap her feet on the floor. Wrap her arms around herself. Rock back and forth. But those would be signs of weakness. And she wasn’t going to appear weak in front of Nick Doyle.

Turning back to Nick, Celia said, “To answer your question, no, I don’t have a twin. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, I’m Celia.” She nodded toward Annie. “That’s my sister Anne. She and Noah got married today, shortly before you walked in the door and interrupted their party.”

Nick stared at her for a moment, shock in his expression. “You’re alive ? Fingers and Murray said they’d killed you. Buried you in the desert. All this time, I’ve assumed you were dead. Lost to me.”

“I never belonged to you, so you never lost me,” Celia shot back at him. “And especially not since your father sent me off to be killed by Fingers and Murray.”

For a moment, Celia saw longing in his gaze. Then he turned to Anne. “I’m very sorry I disrupted your wedding,” he said. “I was just looking for a beer. Your husband and his friend were… kind to me the last time I was here. I wanted to fill them in on why I was back in Helena and what had happened after I went back to Vegas.”

“You didn’t see the sign on the door?” Noah asked. “The one that said ‘Closed for a private event?’”

“Didn’t see that,” Nick said. “Must have been gone by the time I got here.” He shrugged. “Want me to take a look?”

“Hell, no,” Noah answered. “Doesn’t matter, because you walked in and disrupted our wedding.”

Nick shrugged. “Should have made sure that sign was more firmly attached to the door.”

Celia pressed her lips together to keep from laughing. The guy she’d been mooning over since she began working for Bobby Doyle was sitting in front of her, and he and Noah were arguing about whether there was a sign on the door of The Trailhead. But she drew in a shuddering breath and stared at Nick instead.

Her eyes fixed on him, she said, “You were in the room with your father and Fingers, then you weren’t. Where did you go?”

Nick shifted so he faced Celia. “Alice, my father’s secretary, had work she needed to do but she needed some muscle to move boxes around. So she asked my father if I could help her.” He drew in a breath. Blew it out. “My dad didn’t like it and I could see he wanted to say no. But he really didn’t have a good excuse. So he told me to go help Alice, but it was obvious he was pissed off.”

“Had your father ever sent you out with Fingers or anyone else on a job like that before?” Noah asked.

Nick shook his head. “Never.” He sighed. “You can choose to believe me or not. I don’t really care. But it wasn’t until after I moved home a couple of years ago that I realized who my father was. What his business was. It took a while for everything to click into place.”

“So you’re telling me you didn’t realize that Bobby Doyle was one of the most powerful mobsters in Vegas?”

Nick shrugged. “I can tell you don’t believe me, and I don’t care. My mother shielded me from my father’s business when I was a kid. She and I moved to the Chicago area when I was thirteen. After I graduated from high school, I went to the University of Pennsylvania. Wharton Business School for undergrad and grad school. Neither my mother nor I went back to Las Vegas, except for Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving.”

He stared at Noah, and Celia was shocked when Noah backed up a couple of steps. “I moved back to Vegas after my mother died, but I continued working remotely for the hedge fund I’d started with after college. I didn’t pay any attention to what my father did. Saw him at dinner, and that was about it.”

He drew in a deep breath. “There was no sudden revelation about who and what my father was. I really didn’t know him -- I hadn’t lived with him since I was a kid. And like I said, I didn’t see much of him.

“It took a while to put the pieces together.” His lips thinned as he pressed them together. “My father telling me to go with Fingers and Celia was the last straw. By that time, I knew Fingers was my father’s hit man. I knew what was going to happen to Celia. I took off after them in my car, but by then it was too late. I passed Fingers and Murray as they were returning to the compound.”

“And now you’re back here,” Noah said, and Celia heard the scorn in his voice. “Is your dad’s new hitman going to follow you? Knock you off, too?”

“Hell, no,” Nick said immediately. “No one will follow me here. I destroyed my phone. Got a new one with a new number. When I left, I took everything with me that could give my father information about me or where I was. I made sure I wasn’t followed -- bought a new car. Paid cash. Left it at the dealer. Went home and got what I was taking, walked a few blocks away from my father’s house after everyone was asleep and caught a cab. Paid cash for that, too. Had him drop me off several blocks away from where I’d left the car. Then I started driving.

“I drove to Reno, then into California. Went to San Francisco and destroyed my phone there. My father knew I’d always wanted to move to San Francisco, so I figured he’d look for me there.

“Then I turned around and headed for Helena. My father will waste his time looking for me in San Francisco. When he doesn’t find me there, he’ll look in other California cities. It’ll take him a while to realize I was laying down a false trail. And he’d have no reason to think I came here.”

“Your father probably knows you’re here.” Noah snorted. “He’s probably always had a tracker on your car.”

“Probably,” Nick said with an ‘I don’t give a damn’ shrug. “But if he did, the only thing he’s going to learn is that my car is sitting in the garage at his compound. And even if he knew I’d come here before, why would he think I came back? Helena is a small town. Nothing for me to do here. California is a much more likely destination for me.” He shrugged. “It’s where I wanted to go after I got out of grad school, but he refused to let me go.”

Noah studied him for a moment. “What would he have done if you’d moved there anyway? Killed you?”

Nick shrugged. “Probably. That was before Robert died. I was the extra. He didn’t have any use for me.” He laughed, but there was no humor in his words. No pain. “It’s different now. I’m his only heir.”

“So why not stay in California?” Noah asked. “It’s a bigger state. A lot more places to hide. Why come back to Helena?” Noah asked.

Nick shrugged. “I liked the town. Liked the people. Maybe I’ll settle here. I’m still working for a company back east. Remotely, so I can work from anywhere.”

“No offense, Nick, but why should we believe that?” Noah said, staring at him. “No one in this room trusts you. You’re talking a good game, but all of us know what happened to Celia. Now she’s terrified that you’ll tell your father she’s alive. So is Anne. I’m pissed off that you might bring more mobsters here. Turn our peaceful town into the OK Corral. Hiram is pissed off because he’s attached to Anne. Likes me pretty well, too. And if we have to leave because of you, he won’t be happy. He’ll likely blame you. Just like me, Hiram used to be a SEAL. And SEALs know how to get the job done. How to make people vanish with no trace.”

Nick held Noah’s gaze. “And I told you I can take care of myself. I’m not worried about a couple of old SEALs.”

Noah’s mouth twitched, probably at being called an old SEAL.

“My father won’t find me,” Nick said. “Probably won’t even look for me,” he said with a shrug. “What do you want?” Nick leaned toward Noah. “To reassure you.”

“You can talk to the FBI,” Noah said immediately. “I’m sure you have a lot of information about Bobby Doyle that they’d love to have.”

“I’ll do that in a heartbeat,” Nick said. “In fact, I’ll go to the Helena office right now. Start spilling my guts.”

“Not so fast, Doyle. I was an FBI agent after I left the SEALs. I have lots of contacts there. I’ll find someone in the Organized Crime division for you to talk to.”

He glanced at Celia and realized she was tense. Twitchy. Staring at him with horror in her eyes.

Noah shook his head at her. Tried to communicate that he wasn’t involving her. This was all about Doyle.

She held his gaze for a long moment. Then nodded, a tiny movement of her head.

Noah turned back to Nick. “A warning -- if you mention Celia at all, or her sister Anne to anyone , including the FBI, I will end you. No one knows about either of them. Am I clear?”

“As glass.” Nick glanced at Celia. Looked away. “Why would I tell them about Celia? Not my proudest moment. I was moving fucking boxes around while Fingers was shooting Celia.”

“You have other people you killed for your old man?” Noah asks, his voice hard.

Nick shook his head. “No. He never made me go with Fingers or any of the other guys on a kill. This was the first and only time.”

“You have a theory about why he wanted you to go with Fingers?”

“I do. But I’d rather not talk about it right now.”

Noah drilled him with a hard gaze. “You’ll talk about it to the FBI.”

“Absolutely. They need to know. But that’s none of your business.”

Noah’s jaw twitched, as if he was trying to control his temper. Finally he said, “Okay. Give me your phone number.” He opened his phone to his contacts and waited. Typed in the number. Nick Doyle’s name.

“I’ll send you a text with my number,” Noah said. “Where’re you staying?”

“I found an apartment. Above a shop in the business district.” He smiled. “The last place my father would expect me to be.”

“That’s smart.” Noah jerked his head toward the door. “Now go back to your place. I’ll call you in a few days, after I have a chance to talk to my contacts at the FBI.”